Bombs away

Essendon coach James Hird is hopeful the way his players have handled their endless summer will create a tighter bond among them, but knows that emotion alone cannot help the Bombers make up the ground they lost last year.

Footy Fix: Bombers seek fresh start

The Bombers can put the off-field worries of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority's investigation to one side on Friday night when they deal with stress of a welcome kind, playing football against Adelaide in the season opener at AAMI Stadium.

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Hird on Thursday reiterated his amazement at how his players had kept their focus on training, even if their emotions had fluctuated over the past six weeks, and hoped the scrutiny that came with the probe could have a galvanising effect.

''I've just seen the players really come together as a group, socialise together, talk together about different things. I think they understand how important each other are to each of them and look after each other a little bit more,'' he said as the players whooped it up at the end of training.

Asked if he hoped Essendon could produce the same sort of emotion-charged win Cronulla did days after a doping crisis engulfed the NRL club, Hird gave insight with what he omitted in his answer.

''Certainly we're after a win. That's what we're hopeful the outcome is,'' he said.

''But we want to play a certain style and I think for our boys it's about football and how they play.''

The Sharks commendably backed up their season-opening win over the Gold Coast Titans with a gallant loss to South Sydney, but it is unknown where their season goes from here.

For Essendon the aim for 2013 is to produce more of the football that shot the Dons to eight wins from their opening nine games, and less of the long lapses that ended last season so pitifully with seven consecutive losses. So far Hird has at least seen plenty of resilience.

''In 2011 we were able to play for 2½ quarters and last year we got to three, three-and-a-bit quarters, and when things really got tough at the end we maybe struggled a little bit,'' he said.

''There's a lot of things which come in to being able to play a full game week after week. Part of that is resilience under pressure. Our boys have been under a lot of pressure and they've handled it very well. We think that will stand them in good stead during the football season.''

Hird was unfazed by what sort of reception awaited his players in Adelaide, even though Crows coach Brenton Sanderson made it clear he did not want to hear of any disrespect shown towards Essendon by players or supporters.

Hird said there was potential for Adelaide to stretch the Bombers' back line.

''They're a very good football team, they've got a very good forward who takes a lot of marks, kicks a lot of goals and has a very good presence in [Taylor] Walker. But they've also got a lot of small players up forward who play well.''